Back to Reality
by soheil solitarius
Summary: POSSIBLY DISCONTINUED? , collab , AU : After two years of gameplay, it's GAME OVER for Team White of the Baten Kaitos Virtual Reality Experience - but after two years of gameplay, Team White seems to have forgotten that they need to come back to reality.
1. The Awakening

Back to Reality

Chapter One (written by FanFanGirl): The Awakening

--

_One real world is enough. George Santayana_

_--_

So this is what death feels like, Kalas reflected, watching the blood gush from his chest.

He felt sad. He reluctantly fell to his knees, gasping and toppling over onto the ground. His vision began to fade and his heartbeat slowed. It passed into stillness.

He was dead.

--

The words GAME OVER flashed in his mind. An obnoxious beeping sound kept feeding into his ears; when he opened his eyes he was met with the sight of an empty metal room, tinted yellow through his pair of plastic goggles.

"What the...?"

As he began to sit up a voice crackled in the earpiece. "Welcome back. You have been playing the virtual reality game Baten Kaitos for the past two years. You explored a highly realistic digital world filled with fun and fantasy. Unfortunately your journey has come to an end. Within the next few minutes your real life memories should return to you, but until then please remove your helmets and proceed through the exit. Follow the red lights to the storage area where your team's baggage is located. Thank you for playing. And welcome back to reality."

When the voice faded out of the earpiece, Kalas placed his hands on either side of the helmet and pulled it off. He clambered out of the chair he was in, finding that the plush seat was attached to a pillar as massive and thick as a tree. He looked around and saw that the pillar sported a whole ring of chairs, rising from the floor to the ceiling and swamped with wires. Around the corner, the outline of another person's body could be seen. Throwing down his helmet, Kalas began to jog around the side of the pillar.

It was Xelha, looking as though she had melted into her chair. Her chin rested on her chest and she was breathing shallowly; she almost looked like she was in pain. Kalas winced and grabbed her shoulders, trying to wake her. "Hey, can you hear me? Xelha!" Somewhere in the back of his mind he noticed that in place of her normal clothes she wore a crisp, pearl-colored uniform; he wore one as well.

She groaned and sank lower into her seat, a little color coming into her cheeks. He figured that she wouldn't be moving any time soon, but it looked like she was alive. She was _alive_. Sighing in relief, he caught a glimpse of Gibari just around the bend. "Hold on a minute, Xelha," he said letting go of her shoulders. "I'll be back." He moved on to the next chair angled against the pillar.

"Gibari! You okay? Wake up!" Kalas jostled Gibari as well. He was beginning to realize that there was no headband on his friend's head, and that Gibari's ballooning pants had been replaced with the same snug uniform that Xelha wore. Would everyone be wearing these? After a few violent shakes, Gibari let out a low rumble and squinted open his eyes.

"Argh... Kalas... that you?" He brought a large trembling hand to his head, only to have it bump against the white helmet. After a moment of confusion, Gibari removed the offending headgear from himself. He pulled the goggles down and stared around in confusion, finally locating Kalas. "Oh, there you are."

Kalas took hold of Gibari's arm and pulled him out of the chair. "Glad to see you're still alright, man. Would you give me a hand with the others? Do me a favor and go wake Xelha up."

Gibari nodded as though in a daze, taking a few staggering steps forward. "Kalas, wait a minute... Where is this place? What are we doing here?"

He shrugged. "Don't ask me. Let's just make sure everyone else is alive."

"Yeah... You're right," Gibari muttered. He saluted, and turned toward Xelha's seat.

Kalas began to feel some relief. So far both Gibari and Xelha were alive, even after... even after he had seen them...

He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to think about it.

As he made his way around the pillar he came across Savyna's chair. As the second tallest person in their group, Lady Death's head was situated well above the top of the chair and her legs stretched down way past the footrests. She, too, was dressed in the pearly uniform, with the same globe-like helmet and yellow goggles.

Unlike Gibari and Xelha, though, she seemed to be already half-conscious; behind the goggles her eyes were glazed but partly open. Kalas climbed up on the chair and leaned over her to lift up the edges of the helmet, calling into her ear, "Everything alright in there?"

She stiffened. Her eyes flying open, Savyna planted her hands on his chest and with a sharp push sent him sprawling onto the floor.

When she looked down and saw that it was him on the floor, she said, "Oh, it's you. I'm... fine."

Kalas eased himself up and scrubbed the back of his head, pouting. "That's good to know... I guess."

She inclined her head silently, her gaze sweeping the room to take note of its clean, white features. As she lifted off her helmet, she said, "It seems that we are in a laboratory of some kind."

"Yeah, I know. But it doesn't look like the work of the Empire..."

"I have not seen such models before." Pausing for a moment, she focused her gaze on Kalas. "...In our last battle...the casualties?"

"So far it looks like everyone's fine," he breathed. "Gibari's trying to wake Xelha right now, but I haven't gotten to the Great Mizuti or Lyude yet. Wanna help me get them out?"

She jumped down from her seat and slid behind him. "Yes."

"Good. I think I see Lyude over there, so you want to take care of the Great Mizuti?"

When she nodded, he gave her a thumbs-up and took off.

It was comforting to know that Savyna was still in one piece, he thought as he went. If someone like her had been missing, who knows what they would have done. Even so, this place was strange and he didn't know that he liked it much. It was always awkward waking up in strange places, like in Cebalrai and Moonguile Forest. Nothing good comes from not knowing where you are.

As he made it around the last stretch of the pillar's border, he met Lyude. The redhead looked even more coherent than Savyna had; he'd already taken his helmet off and was now looking around through his goggles. When he spotted Kalas he let out a small "Oh!" and descended from the chair.

"Lyude, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, but how are the others? Are they hurt? Would you... by any chance... happen to know where we are?"

"No, I don't... But the good news is that everyone's okay. C'mon, we can't sit around here and chat, so I'll show you." Kalas turned to lead the way to the others. Lyude, still strapped into his goggles and still a bit confused, followed obediently.

When the two came across the rest of the group, they found everyone up and about, looking well. Xelha was a bit weak on her legs, but she had one hand on Gibari's arm, and was smiling at least. Savyna looked slightly shorter without her high heels, yet was still a giant next to the Great Mizuti. With surprise Kalas saw that Mizuti's face was bare. She blinked around at the others with clear brown eyes.

Laughing with relief to see all of them, Kalas ran up to his friends. They were alive, they were all alive! The group regarded him with similar expressions as he came up next to them — uncertainty, comfort, happiness. No one knew what was going on... but they were together.

"So, everyone's alright," Kalas called loudly, looking around at everyone and briefly catching Xelha's eye.

"It seems that way," Savyna said, her arms folded. "But as for our mission, Malpercio..."

The group suddenly fell dead silent. At last, Kalas spoke up.

"...We failed. I thought everyone was dead... I guess we survived. Somehow..."

Xelha looked at the floor. "I saw... We..." She stopped, unable to go on.

"Hey now, we're okay now, and that's all that matters. Don't worry about it. Right now, we have other things to think about."

Lyude nodded. "We must find our way out of here quickly, otherwise there will be no one to stop Malpercio's rampage. And Melodia... we must save her."

"Melodia..."

"If we be saving Melodia, first we be escaping, this is true?"

Mizuti's voice sound bright without her mask to stifle it. And she seemed strangely solid with both of her feet planted on the ground, her body not dangling in the air but trapped in a small white suit.

She seemed like a different person, Kalas mused. He didn't linger on the thought long, though.

"Yeah. Let's get out of here, guys."

"I believe there's an exit on the opposite side of the room," Lyude provided helpfully.

"Then let's go."

At the end of the room was a door lined by twinkling red lights. Kalas looked at the faces of his friends before going through. They were ready. Somber, confused, and disappointed, but ready.

--

FFG: Hey guys! Look, I'm Katana! I like Geldoblame! ...Yeah!

Okay, not really. She and I are co-authoring this fic and that's why I'm here. We'll be switching off writing every other chapter, so make sure to review mine and not hers. Haha.

Okay, again, I'm kidding, but I really do hope you guys like this story. Things will pick up from here on out, and since Katana's writing I'm sure there'll be some crazy, crazy happenings. Hope you enjoy!

CK: Awwwwww yeah. So, for you people who don't know what the shit we just said: Fan wrote this chapter, I write the next; we alternate and frolic off into the sunset. 8D

And _that_, my good people, is when _you_ review. (And again, please make sure you know who you're reviewing, because we have different writing styles and I'm sure you don't want one of my crazyass replies when you want to talk to Fan.)

Or I sware to McPercio himself I will give Geldoblame here instructions to throw his considerable weight around and do some rapin. D: -snuggels His Fatass and is sucked momentarily into a pocket of fat-

Oh ew.

Um...kidding about that last part, because I wish that upon not even my worst foe. -shudders-

ANYWAY. Next chapter in the works, see you all REAL SOON.

-cackles-


	2. Reality Blows

A/N: Katana here! In case you didn't catch our drift last chapter—and it was a rather _obvious_ drift, so I'll be highly dissapointed if you didn't, although I suppose I still should do this—Fan and I are alternating writing our chapters here, so it's finally my turn, as she wrote the last. FFFF IT'S ALWAYS A PARTY WITH KATANANANA.

I'm not sure if parts of this chapter are too gory for some people, so I'll put up a nice little **warning** right here.

**For the particularly squeamish, don't linger too long on our lovely little Melodia's intro; blood and gore, yada yada yada****. Oh, and there's a little language from Folon and Mr. McPercio, but...dude, they're _Folon _and_ Malpercio._ What did you expect?**

Not mush else to say. Enjoy! :D

Chapter **Two**:_ Reality Blows_

This new room was painfully well lit, if quite smaller than the previous room. Kalas had to lift an arm above his face to see clearly in the bright, white light. He looked around at his friends to observe Xelha and Mizuti blinking owlishly in the center of the room; Gibari was scrunching his face uncomfortably at the shock of the light in his eyes; Lyude was rubbing a hand over his lids, and Savyna was resolutely closing her own while pressing a hand to her temple as she crossed the room to Xelha and Mizuti, Gibari's hand in hers.

"So bright!" Xelha cried. Savyna nodded and dropped Gibari's hand hastily as Mizuti wiggled her eyebrows in their direction. Gibari blinked several times and used his newly freed hand to aid the other in rubbing savagely across his eyes.

Lyude sighed and brushed some loose strands of hair out of his face. "It appears these are our belongings, Kalas. Shall we?" He inquired, quiet as a mouse (as always) as he strode over to meet them. He yanked on the strap of a backpack for emphasis. Kalas recognized it almost immediately, credit to its masking tape tag (the initials "K. X." written plainly across it) and hissed.

"Gimme that, Lyude," he growled, snatching his bag and slinging it casually over his shoulder. Lyude, taken aback, mumbled something akin to "My apologies...didn't mean to impose...so sorry..." before being consoled by Xelha. She, in turn, chided Kalas on his "childish behavior."

Everyone followed suit after Kalas, Xelha accidentally grabbing Savyna's purse and exchanging it for her own, mumbling a quick apology while Mizuti bent down to pick up a small change purse. Gibari jogged to a corner of the new room to pocket his wallet from a small pedestal. Lyude shouldered a pack not unlike Kalas', and looked imploringly at him. Kalas rubbed his eyes once again and growled.

"Is everyone ready?" Xelha chirped, though the discomfort in her voice was rather obvious.

Gibari grunted. "K-man?"

"Yeah. Let's go; there's the door." Kalas rubbed his eyes yet again, and started off toward the other end of the room. He yanked on the door handle. The steel door didn't so much as budge. Kalas shoved it viciously. "Dammit!" he cursed, ramming a shoulder into the uncooperative thing, causing his backpack to fall to the floor with a little crash and a tinkle of breaking glass. Kalas' eyes widened and he stopped his assault on the door to squat down next to his bag, rubbing his now badly bruised shoulder. He flipped his pack open deftly and observed a broken picture; framed and all. He pulled it cautiously out and did a double take.

...was that _him_?

The boy in the picture, a bluenette with a handsome buzz cut, _was_ him. He had an arm slung around a rather dark-skinned man with equally dark hair. The man was grinning and holding a V-For-Victory sign to the camera. It was Gibari, although with considerably shorter hair as well.

Xelha peered over Kalas' shoulder to look at the picture along with the others. Gibari gaped.

"I'm hideous!"

"Oh, shut up, you." Savyna hissed, though not unkindly, snapping open her purse and rifling through it. She triumphantly pulled free a small device, which looked almost like a little bug. Lyude looked at it cautiously from afar and Gibari rested his chin on Savyna's shoulder to get a good look at the little thing. Kalas grunted as Xelha pulled him over. "What if it's bugged! Some damn dirty little empire trick!" He yowled as he tried to escape the Ice Queen's iron grip.

"Quiet, you. If Savyna has it, it can't be all bad."

"Yeah, but—"

"Hush!"

Savyna grabbed a slab of the teeny device between her index finger and thumb and flipped it open on a hinge. "Damn," she cursed quietly, "I know this...but I...don't? ...Ah, well...damn me if I remember how to use it, but…"

"That button!" Gibari howled, poking Savyna gently and pointing.

"No, no, all wrong! It be _that_ one!" Mizuti squealed, running over to the group before jumping up and down and pointing—but _not_ before posing extravagantly.

"Hush, both of you," Xelha chided, "Let Savyna try!"

After a bit of fiddling around and two short-lived arguments between Kalas and Gibari—broken up by Xelha, with appropriate difficulty—Savyna let out a loud and eureka-ish "AHA!" as the tiny machina emitted a loud _bee-eep! _and a selection of pictures opened on its screen. Cautiously, she picked one, as Lyude looked on in carefully calculated awe.

It was apparently Savyna herself, although with her hair down and about her waist, shimmering in bright sunlight. She was barely smiling, but smiling nonetheless, and brushing some of her hair behind her ear. She looked undoubtedly younger. Next to her was a grinning, bubbly Xelha, golden curls shining like her behemoth grin and sliver hoop earrings.

The was a loud rap on the large door behind the six that made them all jump, and without hesitation, a woman in a jumpsuit entered. Her jumpsuit was half white, half black, and she was smiling pleasantly. Kalas groaned and touched his shoulder as Xelha mused about how it had probably been locked from the outside.

"You couldn't have said that before?" He growled. Xelha flushed and twirled a lock of hair around her pinky, grinning sheepishly.

The girl in the jumpsuit cleared her throat loudly.

"_HELLO!_" she shouted, "Your planes will be ready soon and your Real Life Memories shall return shortly!" she was virtually screaming, appearing to think that in their shock, the six young men and women before her had gone deaf. She ushered them outside of the small and sinfully bright room to what almost appeared to be something akin to a doctor's waiting room (_Larikush, Larikush_, _Larikush,_ Kalas' mind cried), blathering about "Real Life Memories" and "airplanes" and "virtual reality."

"Team Black will no doubt emerge shortly from the virtual reality chamber," she wailed "their Young Miss is still in the game!"

Kalas covered his ears and moaned.

—

The Obnoxiously Loud Girl led them to yet another new room, this one, rather like her jumpsuit, was half black and half white, a refreshing change from the previously painfully pristine room from before. Here, she led them to their clothing and instructed them to change, before leaving them to the dressing rooms.

After a bit, all six were out of the rooms with minor difficulties, save for a mishap with Kalas' zipper. He refused to talk about it and scowled until everyone reluctantly stopped snickering. (Personally, he blamed the empire.)

—

About an hour or so later, Kalas, Xelha, Savyna, Gibari, Lyude and Mizuti exchanged exasperated glances between themselves as they boarded a bus to the airport, listening to the Obnoxiously Loud Girl's farewell hollers, plugging their fingertips into their wounded ears and silently imploring the driver of this strange liner to _go faster_.

—

"Ooh, would you look at that. Seems like I win! Wondrous job, Malpercio; I didn't even have to do anything!" Melodia giggled, folded her hands in her lap and, unable to help herself, stared at the blood-soaked corpses of Kalas and his companions. (Her own companion growled proudly at his work somewhere off to her left.)

Choppy chunks of purpling intestine hung from Gibari's abdomen, a sight Melodia didn't particularly prefer, but that's what he got for showing so much skin, she supposed. Kalas bore a stab wound through the chest, quite fatal; Xelha lay decapitated near him, their hands just barely touching—her pretty head had probably rolled away somewhere; Savyna had held the same fate as Kalas—and Lyude, the poor boy, had gone out with his skull smashed in like weak pottery from the back (Melodia was unsure of his vital state, but she assumed that he was dying, or at least had a broken neck to boot); fragments of his shattered cranium littered his armor and blood oozed and dried into his matted hair.

Mizuti seemed to have had the quickest and easiest death; her chakrams had turned on her before she had known what was happening, at least. She lay near Xelha and her pitiful stump of a neck, her mask broken and her face splitting down the middle as her siltted belly drenched her extravagant clothing in crimson. Melodia supposed Malpercio really _had_ done a good job—_more_ than good—and scowled a bit.

Their corpses were beginning to smell ripe, rank with decomposing flesh and coagulating blood. Melodia turned her head and futilely tried to choked back a bit of acidic vomit, suddenly remembering the all-too-real stench of Geldoblame's blood as she dropped to her knees and let it all come splattering up, burning her esophagus as it erupted from her churning stomach in a chunky, yellow smatter all over the ground. Sadly, this added to the stench as the vomit began to mix with the blood. Malpercio's nose twitched and scrunched up in disgust, but watched Melodia with a mild curiosity, nonetheless.

When she was quite sure it was over, Melodia stood and spat before groaning softly and wondering which had been worse...but she shook the thought away. A game was a game, and she had played intending to win.

Still, she could hear screaming in the back of her mind.

_Shut up, you, you're fine,_ she told it, _you're going to be standing over me and smirking, wearing that ridiculously shiny thing in your ear and saying "You did well, love," in no time. Just you wait._

She cried out when she heard a loud, continuous beeping feeding into her ears _drilling into her head _and flattened a pale, pristine hand over her racing heart. She was suddenly very tired, and closed her eyes reluctantly. The words YOU WIN flashed on the insides of her eyelids repeatedly until she was dizzy.

She toppled onto the ground and wandered in and out of consciousness in a delicious little journey of flashing lights and obnoxious beeping noises. Vaguely, she felt the earth below her tremor as Malpercio stumbled and fell onto his haunches.

—

When she opened her eyes, Melodia observed and empty room, tinted a gaudy purple through the lenses of her goggles. As she began to sit and compose herself, he reached up and touched her earpiece; that must have been where that forsaken beeping had been coming from. It suddenly crackled and Melodia jumped, touching her aching head. She had a sinking feeling that she would be leaving with quite the migraine.

"Welcome back. You have been playing the virtual reality game _Baten Kaitos_ for the past two years. You explored a highly realistic digital world filled with fun and fantasy. Unfortunately, your journey has come to an end. Within the next few minutes your real life memories should return to you, but until then, please remove your helmets and proceed through the exit. Follow the red lights to the storage area where your team's baggage is located. Thank you for playing, and welcome back to reality."

Melodia, with minor difficulties regarding her poor, tangled hair, managed to get the helmet off successfully and stood gracefully, shoving herself out of her chair. She placed the helmet carefully onto the seat of the chair before yanking her goggles off and looking around, finger-combing her hair quickly in a feeble attempt to get that awful static out of it.

She found that her chair was attached to a thick, smooth pillar, adorned with possibly thousands of wires winding about it like overgrown ivy, all of them connected to other chairs which were themselves supported by the deep ebony pillar. She noted another chair near by and strode over to it, wondering idly whether or not anyone else was up and about. When she came to the chair and stopped in front of it, her nose was met with Folon's knees. She took a step back and poked one experimentally. When he wouldn't stir after quite a few pokes, Melodia moved to one side of him and punched him deftly in the stomach. Folon flailed for a moment before grabbing his injured belly and groaning loudly.

"Wha...what the _hell_ was that for!?" he yowled, "That fucking _hurt!_"

"You big _baby,_" Melodia scoffed, flicking one of his knees again, "Just go find Giacomo and Ayme."

"But I don't know where they—"

"—key word being _'find,' _Folon."

As Folon jumped down from his chair and set off for another pillar, Melodia continued to circle the base of the first. She was vaguely aware of Folon snapping Giacomo's ebony jumpsuit against his pecs and yelling obscenities into his helmet at the opposite pillar. She noticed Malpercio looking around curiously and squirming in his own chair, blinking large, dark eyes behind his violet-tinted goggles before reaching up and tapping his fingernails against his helmet. After a bit of tap-tap-tapping, he took it off, but left the goggles over his eyes (now tapping on those, too).

Melodia jogged over to a chair opposite of Folon's, but on a slightly lower level of the pillar, smoothing her jumpsuit down as she went. Geldoblame was situated in this chair, his long legs nearly tripping Melodia as she was forced to step over them to awaken him. His head drooped onto one shoulder and his eyes were closed tight behind his goggles, almost as if he were in pain. It made Melodia uneasy. She winced and pulled his helmet off for him, brushing a strand of ginger hair out of his eyes. She giggled when she found that it still smelled plesantly like lavender.

"Hey, can you hear me?" She whispered, shaking his shoulders lightly, "Geldoblame...Geldoblame?"

He stirred a bit, hearing his name. His hands twitched.

"What's...what's going on?" He croaked, his throat surprisingly dry. Opening one eye, then the other, Geldoblame slowly sat up straight and looked into Melodia's face. "Are you all right, Melodia?"

Melodia smiled, "I'm fine. It's over; we won."

"_You_ won, darling. I...well, it was not pretty. You saw," Geldoblame chuckled, attempting to smile but failing rather spectacularly as he whispered bitterly, "All too real..."

Melodia touched his shoulder lightly, rubbing gently. "You're fine. We're just gathering up everyone and then we're all going home. Folon—"

"—I never cared for that imbecile—"

"—is getting Giacomo—"

"—I don't think I liked him very much, either..."

"—so I believe I'll try to help him with Ayme—"

"—our team _sucks_—"

"—and Malpercio."

"—ugh, do I like _anyone_ here?"

Melodia quirked an eyebrow and tipped her head to the side, looking accusingly at him and playfully shoving his shoulder. "Oh hush. You like _me,_ don't you?"

Geldoblame grinned, "Of course I like you, darling," he whispered, touching her hair lightly, "Mmm. Run along then, I suppose."

"Will do," and with that, Melodia scampered off to attempt to keep Folon from getting wailed on mercilessly by a very disoriented Ayme, to no avail. Geldoblame could hear Giacomo roaring with unconcealed peels of laughter from across the room.

Geldoblame stuck a finger into one ear and pulled the earpiece out of the other, still listening disinterestedly to the muffled laughter and howled obscenities near by. He pulled his goggles off and hissed as a red light above him shone straight into his eyes, rubbing his hands over them quickly before turning his head and blinking several times. He decended from the chair quickly and crossed the room in three long strides.

"My, _my,_" he chuckled, twirling a lock of hair around his pointer, "Such _violence,_ kiddies. Play nice, won't you?"

Folon growled at him and blew his bangs out of his face. "Shut up, fatass. She started it anyway—"

"—you _initiated_ it—"

"—_you_ didn't have to be such a bitch—"

"—do you _want_ another beating!?"

Geldoblame snickered and turned to Melodia, playfully flicking her on the shoulder, "I told you. _Im-be-cile._"

"I can hear you, fatass!" Folon screamed. Geldoblame rolled his eyes and sighed.

"You escaped from a farm somewhere, didn't you, boy?"

"You escaped from a circus somewhere, didn't _you, _fatass?"

"Hold your tongue lest you bite it, my lovely. If I recall _correctly,_ you _work_ in a circus, do you not?"

Folon sputtered. "Who told you!?"

"Oh, just a hunch. But _many_ thanks for confirming it. And you could use some better insults than 'fatass,' deary."

Folon yowled and leaped at Geldoblame, who stepped behind Melodia and stuck his tounge out as Giacomo held the struggling Folon back. Malpercio snickered from the dark corner and mildly remarked "Good shittin' _god,_" as he watched Folon flail (causing Geldoblame to jump slightly; Malpercio unnerved him). He gnawed on one eerily long fingernail boredly as he continued to observe and scratched his ear.

"For Pete's sake," Giacomo hissed in the younger man's ear, "Restrain yourself from initiating fistfights with someone who is twice your size, F—"

"—yo, his _ass _is what's twice my size!" Folon argued heatedly (still struggling futilely in Giacomo's iron grip).

"Now, this is getting insulting!" Geldoblame bawled. Melodia and Ayme exchanged looks and sighed. Malpercio snorted with laughter and ran a hand through his short hair (now licking the finger he had been so feverishly biting a moment ago; it was bleeding from under the quick).

"This is going no where," Ayme growled, slapping Folon upside the head and mussing up his obnoxiously dyed hair, "Let's get going."

—

An insanely quiet young woman had led them from their belongings, back to their old clothing, and they had been allowed to change from the shimmering, black jumpsuits to their own attire there. She had mumbled something about "privacy," "come out when you're ready," and "Team White" before scuttling off, her head bowed.

Now, everyone was sitting (nearly _camping, _for lack of a better word) in front of the dressing room Geldoblame should have come out of ten minutes prior, Folon complaining loudly and Malpercio staring off into the distance. Barely a minute later, Geldoblame stepped out and glared icily at Folon, tapping one designer leather loafer against the floor.

"If I can hear you through this door," he growled, gesturing to the thick slab of metal in front of his dressing room, "I am either hearing you too _much_ and too _often,_ or you need to shut up. I am inclined to believe that it is the later, as it is _always_ the latter. So please, I _beg_ of you—_doshutup._"

Folon's mouth worked wordlessly, no doubt searching for an insult as everyone else came down with a serious kids-at-camp case of The Giggles and Malpercio punched him lightly in the shoulder.

After everyone had calmed down considerably, the campers stood, stretched, and headed for the door with Geldoblame. Melodia jogged alongside him and giggled. He turned to her and quirked an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"Oh, nothing."

"_Tell me,_ Melodia."

"I think you need a belt," she giggled, gesturing to how Geldoblame held his slacks up, cinched in one fist. He flushed but looked rather proud. A new excuse to shop had arisen, and soon enough Geldoblame planned to soon take _full advantage_ of it.

—

The Strangely Quiet Girl led them out to a bus and bid them farewell as they boarded. Giacomo, Folon and Ayme were returning to Vegas, whereas Geldoblame and Melodia were returning to their flat in the city, although they only figured it right to see the trio off.

Malpercio had bid his goodbyes earlier with a nod of the head and a wiggle of his fingers before he had simply walked away, never even telling the rest of the group where he was headed.

—

"Come see the show anytime, fatass!" Folon called cheerfully to Geldoblame, "You too, Melodia! Yo, your boyfriend would make a great clown!"

"Please, _please,_ do forget to write!" Geldoblame called back, grinning widely. Melodia slapped him lightly on the shoulder and snickered.

They waved and bid their goodbyes, Geldoblame and Folon grudgingly shaking hands and mumbling about how they would "sort of miss each other," and "maybe you're not so bad," along with, "feel free to call, I suppose," while Melodia, Ayme and Gicaomo snorted and smiled amongst themselves.

"I'll be seeing you, then," Melodia said softly, "Do feel free to call, really. Just don't let Folon and Geldoblame...interact anymore."

"We won't," Ayme promised, nodding sagely.

"...maybe we should. For the sake of the show?" Giacomo suggested, nudging her lightly with an elbow.

"...maybe..."

"I'll be _sure_ to attend, then," Melodia laughed, entwining her fingers with Geldoblame's as Team Black set off on their separate ways, nuzzling his neck lightly. They both looked back at the trio as they boarded their plane, offering one last wave.

"Let's go home, darling," Geldoblame whispered, wrapping an arm around Melodia's waist, "I've missed it."

—

cK: Hehe, Geldoblame lost weight. I almost feel like dancing. c:


	3. Getting Started

Back to Reality

Chapter Three: Getting Started

--

"Well, the bright side is we'll never have to see _her_ again."

The six cringed as the bus bounced away from the building where the Obnoxiously Loud Girl shrunk in the distance, still flapping her hands.

"What is she doing, anyway?" Kalas muttered under his breath, "Trying to fly?"

Lyude cleared his throat. "Waving goodbye, I believe."

Everyone nodded thoughtfully at this, as though a great mystery had been solved. Once the banshee was out of sight however, they turned their collective thoughts to more important things. Like the alien scenery flying past them. That had to be important. For that matter, so did their strange clothes and their strange ride in this strange land.

Kalas squinted out the window, guessing they were somewhere in Alfard. Melodia must have stashed them in that building to take care of later. But now that they had escaped (more like been pushed out the door with free tickets and smiles), nothing of the island looked particularly familiar. It was downright foreign, neither Mintakan nor Azhani. The brown fields, pollution, and hot sun reminded him of Alfard... but where were the machines? The burnished houses?

Kalas spotted a blond, pink-garbed woman strutting down the sidewalk, following the lead of what looked like a leashed naked fluffpup. At the sight of pink he instinctively glanced at Xelha, though now she wore a light, navy-blue dress. She sat across the aisle from him, looking out the wide window at the front of the bus, so he could see well how it clung to her the way that inflatable pink mess never had. He tugged lightly at his collar.

His own shirt was plaid, and much looser than he was used to. He had left it untucked over his pair of odd, stiff pants, which had been left in the changing room for him, presumably by whoever ran that laboratory. He scowled, remembering the zipper. Stupid thing...

"You know, guys, something doesn't feel right about this," he started sullenly.

"Your pants?" Gibari asked beside him.

"_No_." He glowered. "Why did Melodia do all this for us?"

The older man folded his arms, leaning back and letting his own shirt strain over his chest. "You mean why is she letting us get shipped off to some 'airport or 'air dock' or whatever it was? Why did she give us clothes? Why did she give me a _shirt?_ I don't know, kid. But I do know that we're all alive. The Empire must be planning something, to keep us around this long."

"He's right," Savyna said from the other side of him. "Melodia wouldn't let us live without good reason."

Kalas frowned still. "Makes me wonder what she's up to..."

Lyude coughed and sat up in his seat beside Xelha, adjusting the tie on his suit. He was dressed as smartly as always. "This may sound foolish of me," he said, "but I have reason to believe that this place is not Alfard at all."

Everyone paused, their attention suddenly focused on the redhead.

"You may notice that on the surface it looks like it could be Alfard. The land is dry, the air thick with smog. But look at the people. Look at the houses. The clothes, the architecture... It's all so strange, I have never seen anything like it. You will never find such strange clothes in Mintaka or Azha. We must be on an different island altogether."

"Like whale toes we are," Kalas snorted. "This can't be any place but Alfard. It's too similar. And it's not like you have any proof that it's not. For all you know, this could be some lost city in the desert."

"May I point out that if we were in a desert in _Alfard_, the sands would make it impossible to navigate our way down the road."

"C'mon, it's not that bad."

"It _is too_. Besides, it is said that the Imperial Palace can be seen from any location in Alfard."

"Aww, you're just making things up now!"

"Am not!" Lyude said, flushed.

"Y'are too!"

"_Kal_as," Xelha warned.

The young man withdrew slightly. But not before glaring in the direction of his redheaded comrade, of course. When he met Xelha's eyes a moment later, a pang of guilt hit him. Her expression wasn't the one of disapproval that he expected (and usually got), but of understanding. Suddenly he was back in the battle against Melodia and Malpercio, kneeling on the ground, clutching his sword in his hand. Lyude was spread out nearby—or at least, his mangled remains were... Kalas felt his stomach churn. He supposed he could play nice with Mr. Imperial-panties-in-a-knot... for now.

"Fine. Maybe you're right. So where are we, then?"

Lyude, for all his speechifying, found that he could not answer, and let his gaze drop. The others sensed that the conflict had been averted, and hurriedly looked out the window so Kalas had no motivation to rub things in.

Strange, cement houses and endless strips of dead grass ran together beyond the glass. Occasionally a person could be seen strolling down the side roads, wearing the same snug but lightweight clothes as theirs. Soon the sun reached its peak and the bus continued its journey over the black pavement, bringing them from residential districts and shopping centers to a large paved area covered with vehicles. Kalas pressed his hands up against the window and stared at the rows of buses and (hover?) cars parked before a huge building. There were even a few two-wheeled machines, and he watched as a man in a black jacket straddled one that growled out of the parking lot. These vehicles sure were... different.

As they neared, a sky-shattering roar split from the sky. Kalas felt all eyes in the bus (save those of the grumpily silent bus driver) snap to the huge air ship rising above them. Conical, metal, and skinny, it looked more like a giant flying pipe than any of the squirming, breathing air ships that Kalas had ever seen. He felt a sneaking suspicion that Lyude was actually right — but _he_ wouldn't dare say it aloud.

The "airport" was slightly intimidating, a sprawling complex with numerous entrances and swarms of people clamoring at its doors, and as the bus dragged into a parking spot Kalas watched the others, trying to read their expressions. His tone matched the atmosphere when he asked, "...What are we supposed to do here again?"

The others shrugged, but Xelha began to dig through the purse that was slung over her shoulder. She produced a slip of paper, which she then proceeded to inspect. "Maybe we're supposed to use these," she said, looking around. "This ticket has my name on it."

Kalas reached into the scraggly pockets of his pants, as the others began to search own personal items as well. He found a ticket and leaned against the aisle to compare it to the one Xelha had. Their location of departure the same (_Wherever "Los Angeles" is_, Kalas thought in frustration)... but the destinations of the two were different.

"Where the hell is Louis...ville?"

"Portland, Oregon...? I'm afraid I don't understand..."

Beside Kalas, Gibari cried, "Hey, blue boy! I'm going with ya!"

"I'm with Xelha," Savyna said, sounding ever-so-slightly happy.

Curious about her own fate, Mizuti opened up her coin purse, which for some reason was stuffed full of crumpled notes printed with the number "100" and a balding man's head on each of them. She dumped all of them out on the seat beside her, pawing through the mess to find that destination typed on her own ticket was apparently "LaGuardia." Mizuti presented it to the others, shrugged, and began stuffing the extra paper between the seats in hopes that the bus driver wouldn't notice.

In the meantime, Lyude frowned at his own ticket. He found at that he would be paired with Mizuti, but for some reason he looked distressed. As the bus engine choked into silence, Lyude's grip tightened on the piece of paper, his eyebrows knotted together.

Across the way, Gibari stood up and stretched. "Well, I guess it's about time we head out of here!"

"Wait!" Mizuti held her arm out, barring his way. "Lyude be looking sick! Something is wrong?"

The redhead looked up. "No... I, well... Yes. Doesn't anyone else feel that something is terribly wrong here? This must be another island; there is no doubt in my mind now. When we go into that building, is it really wise of us to go our separate ways?"

Savyna looked hard at Gibari, even as she snuck her hand into his. "...He has a point."

Mizuti frowned as though she were thinking really hard. "Hmmm."

"What if we have to go these places, though?" Gibari askedm grinning lopsidedly. "Melodia let us go for a reason. What if this is it?"

"If you knew that her plan was to split us up and take us down individually, would you still be so eager to use these tickets?"

"Whoa, touchy. I was just saying 'what if,' you know." Gbari shrugged. "Why so suspicious all of a sudden, you two?"

Savyna looked at the redhead, who hesitated. "I-I'm afraid I have been quite shaken up by this whole ordeal. First we were betrayed by Melodia, then, ah..." His eyes darted to Kalas and upon seeing his dark glower, gulped. "At any rate, I just have to wonder if this is some kind of trick. I thought we had died back there. At least, it felt as though _I_ did... It was all so real... the pain was intense..." A hand instinctively snaked up into his hair, feeling the place on the back of his head which had been little more than brain mush and skull fragments just hours earlier. He winced and let his hand fall.

"Hey, I can understand that. But we have to trust each other if we're going to get anything done. Without these tickets, all we've got is ourselves."

As Gibari finished speaking, he stared out into the parking lot. All kinds of people filed noisily through the parking lot around them, bumping into vehicles and each other. One kid collided playfully with a tire from their bus. At this point, their bus driver turned around to eye the group irritably. Aware that they had very little time, Lyude rushed to speak again.

"Let me just warn all of you quickly, in case we are separated. This place is not Alfard. I am beginning to suspect that it is not even one of the main islands; no one seems to be running in terror of Melodia and Malpercio. In fact, I have another theory. This may be a floating machine-powered island that Alfard once built. Just hear me out before you criticize... This information is withheld from most of our school textbooks, but I learned quite a bit about the event during my stay in Diadem. There was once an island built by the Empire that was to house all the peoples of the world and force them to rely on the power of magnus rather than magic. It is said that the island experienced a malfunction and was forced to evacuate all of its people, before crashing to the Earth."

Lyude paused, took a breath, and slowly continued, "What if this is that island?"

Kalas stood up. "What!? That would mean we were on the Earth! I don't see Taintclouds anywhere!"

"This is just a theory, Kalas. I may be completely wrong."

"You are often enough," he growled.

"Kalas!" Xelha burst out in exasperation. "_Please_ be more considerate! After all we've been through, we should be supporting each other, not putting each other down!"

"Hey, you six! I don't care what you've been through—I have a route to follow and paying customers to grab. So get off or pay up!" The reflection of the bus driver scowled at them from the mirror at the front of the bus. Then she turned around in her seat, massive bulk resisting her seat belt, to glare at them.

Seeming to wilt, Xelha looked at her friends. "Come on. Let's just go already."

Beside her Savyna zipped up her purse, which she had been shuffling through absentmindedly. Gibari helped her to her feet, though she forgot to thank him. Kalas stuffed his hands into his pocket and marched down the aisle and off of the bus, followed by Xelha and a worried Lyude. Mizuti grabbed her now-empty coin purse and stood up to follow them, stumbling when she remembered that she could not longer float in the air.

--

They stood in the middle of the airport, looking like they had been hit by the bus from which they had recently departed. After visiting the ticket counter ("Here are your carry-on tags, ma'am." "Oh, thank you... Excuse me, but you don't happen to be Children of the Earth, do you?") and making it past security ("You need to go through security, sir." "What? Hey! Do I look insecure to you!?"), the six had regrouped. They exchanged tired glances, each holding their tickets as they would a lifeline.

"I don't remember it ever being this hard to get onto a ship in any of the other islands," Gibari whined.

"Not even the ports at the Empire are this convoluted," Savyna added dryly.

"Let's just be glad we only have one thing left to do: _get on the damn planes_."

Lyude frowned. "I will continue to oppose this decision... but I wish everyone the best of luck."

"The Great Mizuti be riding with you, Lyude! Luck not be needed!"

He smiled half-heartedly, but Xelha nodded. "As long as we're in pairs, everything should be okay. I hope..."

"I hope so, too," Gibari said. He looked down at his ticket, and then at the fancy watch on his wrist. It looked strange on his thick forearm, but he seemed to take weird delight in flashing it around. "According to this thing, Kalas and I will be the first ones off. Ready to go, kid?"

Kalas, who had been pensive ever since they had entered the airport, shrugged. "Sure, whatever."

Gibari waved and looked in the direction of their gate. "I guess this is it. Remember, if something goes wrong, then we'll all agree to meet back up again in this town... what was it called again?" A quick look at the ticket provided him with the name. "Oh, yeah. Los Angeles. Kalas and I are off to 'Kentucky' now. We'll see you soon. But first, c'mere and give me a hug, you guys."

At his invitation, Xelha and Mizuti rushed forward to give him quick, affectionate squeezes, and behind them Lyude saluted the older man. Savyna hung in the back, stoic as usual, but once Gibari was free from the others he jogged over to her. She simply held out her hand to him, and he took it, meeting her eyes. Then he pulled her into a quick embrace. She froze, but even as he turned to leave a small smile appeared on her lips. He grinned back at her, and then headed off in the direction of his gate.

Kalas was about to follow suit, but Xelha and Mizuti stopped him first. Xelha seized one arm and Mizuti the other; together they restrained him.

"I hope you behave yourself," the blond said, looking steadily looking into his eyes, "and keep out of trouble."

"Kalas can be a little reckless sometimes," Mizuti explained.

"Kalas can be more than a little reckless sometimes," Xelha said softly. "So please be careful."

He stood looking at the two of them for a moment, regarding them both. Then he grunted and waved them away. Looking as though he was chewing something extremely sour, he turned to nod at the two Imperials, and at last jogged after Gibari. When he finally caught up with him, Kalas briefly waved at the group of them.

Xelha sighed and looked down at her own ticket. She and Savyna would be next. Looking around at the busy crowds that swept by them, she felt a small pang of fear. What would happen to them? What if she never saw Kalas and Gibari again? What if Lyude was right, and they were somewhere entirely isolated from the main islands of their world?

And yet there was nothing she could do but act. If things were still as they left them after being defeated by Melodia, then Malpercio was still on the loose somewhere. She _had_ to do something.

"...Let's go, Savyna. We shouldn't linger too long here either."

"Are you sure?" The dark woman arched an eyebrow at her. "There is strength in numbers."

"But aren't you eager to go? I know it's unreasonable, but I feel like I'll be more at ease once we're on the move. This waiting makes me nervous."

"If that's how you feel, then by all means go ahead of us," Lyude put in. "Mizuti and I will be fine."

Xelha nodded slowly, thankful for Lyude. Beside her, Savyna adjusted her purse on her arm and started to leave. Lyude bowed to them and Mizuti waved, but as Xelha left them she could not be comforted by their smiles. Over her loomed a sense of foreboding that persisted no matter how she tried to shrug it off.

--

Whistling, Jergen the Janitor flicked on the lights of the white room and pushed his broom through the doorway. The sounds of his shuffling feet were muted by the jungle of wires in the room, as always, but he didn't mind the stillness. He was all too used to it by now.

He surveyed the room for a moment, leaning on his broom. For the past two years it had been occupied by six sleeping players, but now they were gone and so were his fond days of dusting their helmets and adjusting their footrests. In another week or two the next group would file in, ready to experience the "adventure of a lifetime" through some incomprehensible virtual reality machine.

Jergen began to sweep under the seats of the tall chairs, absently shoving his broom into the electrical thicket beneath, pondering his own future in the industry. Sure, he would always be around for maintenance work, but would he ever get to try out the machinery himself? Couldn't they at least give him some time in one of the chairs as a... – a job benefit? He was the janitor, for heaven's sake!

And those utility bills at home just kept piling up... He had to wonder if they would stop for a few weeks if he wasn't there to pay them. Then his wifey would stop nagging him to get a new job, and he could sleep at night. If he were just paid more! A guy would think he'd get paid better for maintaining some stupid virtual reality cult classic, but unfortunately his crap wages reflected his actual responsibilities here—to sweep, dust, and make sure the wires hadn't exploded in a shower of terror.

Jergen did his job all right, but angrily. This happened to him every time— he would start thinking about his home life, the bills, this ludicrous job, and before he knew he would be lashing out with his broom. He jammed it into the pillar of wires, slammed it against the chairs. Leftover dust flew up in the air like a storm around him. He slid his forearm across his face, dampening the sleeve with the moisture collecting there, and huffed. Stupid car. Stupid water pipes. Stupid sewage system. If his wifey would just let him take care of everything!

In his frustration he gave a final whack to the pillar with his broom. No sooner did he pull it back then he heard a sharp crackling sound, then a steady fizz.

Jergen's eyes widened as he dropped his broom and leaned over to examine the wire roots that sunk into the floor and held up the pillar. He was sure the sound had come from this area... Pretty soon smoke began seep out of the deep thicket, and Jergen threw on some gloves before grabbing the wires and yanking them out of the way. He dug further and further into the pillar, trying to find the source of the buzzing noise.

At last, he reached the largest wire in the entire system, a thick white one that acted like a trunk. The outer coating was bent and there was a fairly large gash in it. Jergen stumbled back, all fantasies of vacation time and wage increases vanished from his mind.

The damage done to this wire went beyond his hissyfit today; his swipes at the tangle of wires hadn't been hard enough to cause all _this_. The gash looked old, dusted over and slightly blackish, as though it had been festering like that for months, maybe even a year. Jergen stepped backward, the sweat on his forehead beginning to bead at double speed.

The main wire of the entire system had been damaged, and he didn't know for how long. This thing was supposed to control the most important part of the game, monitoring the thought patterns of the participants, feeding reality into their brains. Jergen knew he was in big trouble, and he wouldn't be out of it any time soon.

--

FFG: Yeah, the chapter title is lamesauce, I know. SORRY FOR FAILING YOU GUYS.

So could you tell I really can't wait to get to the good stuff? And that I like writing immature!sarcastic!jerkface!Kalas? It's so entertaining to have him and Lyude fight, because we all know our softhearted redhead won't defend himself. Muahaha. I like Lyude. Really, I do. :D

By the way, I'm pretty sure things are going to work like this from here on out: Katana follows Team Black and I follow Team White. Unless she wants to do something with my peeps and I want to mess with Melodia & friends. Expect to find Geldoblame in the gym whenever I control him, muaha.

Oh yeah, and MAKE SURE to read the next chapter, which my luffly Katana is going to write. See you again soon!

Fan's luffly Katana: THAT'S RIGHT KIDS, i am going to be writing yet another obscenely long chapter full of Melodia & co. and/or Geldoblame's fabulous plus sized ass. you're so exicted. (8

Until next time, you lovely readers, you!


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